TV decks its halls with holiday programming
Perhaps you’re spending an evening gift-wrapping those last-minute purchases. Perhaps you just plan to chill out after Christmas and recover on the couch. Either way, this week is filled with holiday-themed options that’ll make you wish there were a few more hours in the holi-day. (See what we did there?)
We’ve selected a few options to help keep you in the spirit even if you’ve over-egged your nog.
If you are still trying to figure out what to serve this holiday, we suggest you tune into the holiday-themed marathon of “Barefoot Contessa,” airing Sunday, Dec. 23 on Food Network. She will keep you basting and julienning until you can’t see straight. Later that night the network airs part two of “Gingerbread Giants.” Five gingerbread artists (a missed career opportunity for many of us) take cookie architecture to the next level at the 26th Annual U.S. National Gingerbread House Competition. The competitors, including the returning champ, the rival and the newbie, vie for top honors at one of the most celebrated and competitive holiday events. The only way to make this better would be to have Mike Holmes critique their structural soundness at the end.
On Monday, Dec. 24, Family Channel delivers a “Peanuts” trifecta, beginning with the classic “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” With a tree only a mother could love, a blanket that tells a shepherd’s tale, and a jazz score that has since become legendary, this 1965 animation helps define the true meaning of Christmas. “It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown” and “I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown” immediately follow.
To keep the cheer in full swing, “Hallmark Channel’s Countdown to Christmas” on W Network packs a festive punch and offers “Reunited at Christmas” on Monday, and “Christmas Bells Are Ringing” on Tuesday, Dec. 25. The latter stars Vancouver resident Emilie Ullerup as a freelance photographer who reconnects with a former friend at her father’s Christmas Eve wedding.
And if the kiddos are already tired of their presents, YTV is offering a post-Christmas gift in the form of a sneak peek of the new series “Cousins for Life,” airing on Friday, Dec. 28. (The series officially premieres on Jan. 11.) The new buddy comedy centers on 12-yearold cousins Stuart (Dallas Young) and Ivy (Scarlet Spencer), best friends who come from very different backgrounds, and learn to navigate life under one roof with their families after Stuart’s mom is deployed overseas and his fun-loving dad Clark (Ishmel Sahid) decides to move the family to Portland to live with his uptight brother Lewis (Ron G) and his family.
And in a true nod to the meaning of the holidays, CTV airs the poignant original documentary, “You Are Here: A Come From Away Story,” also on Friday. It tells the story of how the small community of Gander, Newfoundland welcomed more than 6,500 air passengers on Sept. 11, 2001. The story became the original musical “Come From Away” in 2013. The documentary travels deep within this moment in history to shine a light on the actual Newfoundlanders and passengers whose lives inspired the musical.